A Transporting Punishment
by yellow 14
Summary: When a prank goes horribly wrong, James has his first taste of the Department of Magical Transportation and learns something new.


Disclaimer: This place is called Fanfiction for a reason.

AN: Written for round 10 of The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.

"Sixth floor, Department of Magical Transportation," the lift announced and James Potter looked at his dad with a look of pleading.

"Dad, WHY do I have to do my punishment here?" he asked with puppy-dog eyes. "Why can't I do my punishment in the Auror Office with you?"

"Because then you wouldn't fix the trouble you caused," Harry replied with a world-weary sigh. He looked James in the eye with a fierce gaze. "Do you have any idea how many strings I had to pull to have you NOT expelled from Hogwarts? You should consider yourself lucky your prank wasn't fatal."

"Dad, I didn't mean for it to go that far. How was I to know he was allergic to pixie dust? Or that it would have that effect on the Floo Network?"

"You didn't know what effect it would have at all. You just did it and that's the problem," Harry said firmly. "Actions have consequences James and you have to face the consequences of your actions," Harry paused and began counting on his fingers. "You almost killed a fellow student. You threw the Floo Network into chaos, throwing at least a dozen people off from their intended destinations. You only narrowly avoided criminal and civil charges and only then because I was able to persuade the Magical Law Enforcement office that pressing charges wouldn't be worthwhile. I'm disappointed in you James. You're sixteen years old, you should know better."

"Dad…" James started and stopped at the expression on his father's face. "I'll see you later."

"I'll see you later," Harry said to him and he put a reassuring hand on James's shoulder. "Just…get on with the task at hand and you'll be fine."

"Thanks dad," he replied and the two of them stepped out of the lift.

"Good morning Mr Potter. I assume this is the miscreant in question?" a plain woman in green robes asked and Harry nodded.

"Yes, this is James," he said, before looking at James. "This is Emma Dobbs, the Head of the Floo Repair Service and your boss for the duration of your stay," he turned to face Emma again. "Try to bring him back in one piece."

"Well…I'll try," Emma replied with a smirk and they both chuckled.

"Goodbye James," Harry said and James nodded at his father.

"Bye dad," he replied.

James took a moment to examine the woman standing in front of them. She wasn't exactly anything special to look at, with her short brown hair and nondescript face. A three out of ten, maybe a five by his reckoning.

"Are you going to stand there all day Mr Potter or are you actually going to make yourself useful?" Emma asked, cutting sharply through his musings. "There's a lot of work to be done and we don't have time for you to stand around looking pretty."

James frowned. Clearly she wasn't going to be one of his adoring fans. He gritted his teeth and gave her one of his million galleon smiles. If his family history wasn't going to win him any favours, maybe his charm would.

"Mrs Dobbs-" he began and was promptly cut off.

"Miss Dobbs," she said and she opened the door to her office. "We have a lot of work to do, so unless it has something to do with the reason you are here, I suggest that you wait. Now come this way, we need to get our safety robes on."

"Safety robes?" James asked, puzzled.

"Yes, safety robes," Emma replied testily. "I'm sure you would prefer to avoid being burnt after all."

"BURNT!?"

"Nothing fatal, just very painful," Emma said nonchantly as she pulled out a set of ugly green robes. "A little pain might be good for you, but I don't want you have to go to St Mungo's on your first day. That wouldn't look good on my record and be most inconvenient."

"What would happen if I was burnt?" James asked curiously, his mind running through the possibilities. Emma shrugged.

"You would have to go to St Mungo's and stay overnight while they re-grow the burnt skin," Emma said, before pointing to a collection of bottles standing on a nearby shelf. "We have anti-burn potions that would need to be applied as quickly as possible of course and I know a few spells to help," she paused and looked at him. "And if you get yourself burnt deliberately, your father as assured me that you would spend the rest of the school holidays in the most boring position he can find for you. And yes, that is a promise Master Potter that he is more than capable of delivering on. Now put these robes on. You can get changed in those changing rooms," she pointed to a pair of doors marked male and female. "Get a move on."

James stepped into the men's changing room and pulled his safety robes on. The sooner he got started, the sooner he would be finished. And if he was honest with himself, it wasn't like he didn't deserve at least some punishment for what he did. He stepped out to find Emma waiting for him, wearing her own safety robes and an expression of impatience. He gave her what he thought was a winning smile.

"So what do we do now?" he asked and she handed him a handful of purple powder.

"Now we go into the Floo Network of course," she said and he looked at her like she had gone mad.

"But-"

"What you're holding is a specialist type of floo powder, one that allows us to stay in the networks and do repairs," she explained firmly. "You can't travel with it though, so there's only one exit."

"But what if something happens to the fireplace or the fire when we're in there?" James asked and Emma shrugged.

"Well, we've had no complaints yet," she replied and James looked at her in horror. She laughed. "The look on your face!" she said with amusement. "Don't worry. In the event of something happening to the fireplace or the fire, we are automatically kicked out of the network at the same place we entered. So don't worry."

She stepped towards the fireplace and threw her handful of powder into the flames, which turned purple. Then she stepped in and vanished from sight.

James looked at the fireplace. Then he looked at the floo powder in his hand. He still didn't like the idea of going into a one way floo, even if his boss was. Then again, he was pretty sure that the Ministry was safe. And his dad wouldn't send him into somewhere dangerous, would he? With a sigh, he stepped forward and threw in his powder and stepped in.

"Wow," was all her could say when he got in. Unlike a normal floo journey, he wasn't send spinning in circles. Instead, he found himself standing on a platform of some kind, surrounded by hundreds, even thousands of fires. They burned and flickered like so many stars, organised in geometric patterns.

"Pretty impressive, don't you think?" Emma asked with a smile and she waved an arm at their surroundings. "My reaction was the same as yours when I started."

James said nothing and continued to stare in awe. It was one of the most awe-inspiring and beautiful things he had ever seen. The patterns were intricate designs, made up of many smaller and simpler shapes.

Emma broke him out of his trance by shoving a broom into his hands. One clearly designed for cleaning and not flying.

"This is a floo pollution marker that can only exist inside the floo network," she said calmly, while James just stared flabbergasted at the item in his hands. How could ANY task in the Ministry be duller? Still, the view was impressive. She grabbed a broom of her own and pointed to a fireplace that was glowing green.

"This is a contaminated fireplace," she said clearly. "Your job is to tap it with your device like this," she tapped the fireplace gently. "And get out of the way."

"Get out of the way of what?" he asked as she stepped aside. There was a sudden whoosh sound as a stream of pixie dust shot out of the fireplace.

"Out of the way of that of course. You did a lot of damage to the network with your little prank after all," Emma said and James winced.

"Why does pixie dust have that effect and not anything else?" he asked and Emma raised an eyebrow.

"You really don't know?" she asked and James shook his head. "Well that would at least explain why you did it."

"I didn't mix pixie dust into his floo powder to make a mess of the floo network. I just thought that it would throw him off course," James said and Emma raised an eyebrow.

"Pixie dust destabilises the Floo Network by interfering with the magic that makes the network actually work," she paused for a moment and held out her hand. "The floo network requires a stable magical environment to continue to exist. Spells are normally only stable for as long as it takes to have their effect before the magic dissipates."

"This isn't exactly difficult. It's basic charms theory stuff," James said and Emma held up her hand.

"The Floo Network is different in that it needs to remain in place even after the spell is completed, not unlike the spells woven into Hogwarts," she continued. "But Hogwarts spells are kept stable by the constant supply of uncontrolled magic outbursts from young witches and wizards. The genius of the Floo Network is that it produces an entirely stable spell that remains stable indefinitely. Pixie dust disrupts this balance and throws the entire network out of alignment."

"Okay…" James said, a look of confusion on his face. It was almost as bad as listening to his cousin Rose talk. Emma wasn't fooled.

"Look, all you need to know is that pixie dust produces a magical effect that disrupts the Floo Network. Understand?" she asked and James nodded. Why hadn't she said that in the first place?

"Get to work then Mr Potter," she said, pointing to a group of green fireplaces and again James was struck by how pretty the patterns looked. "The affected fireplaces are in that pattern. Clean them up."

"Yes miss," he replied and he stepped up to his first fireplace. He was stuck here, he might as well do a good job of it. He might even impress her with it, he thought to himself. That would go down well with his parents.

AN: Not as complete as I'd like, but time is pressing unfortunately


End file.
